Apparatus for Tornado Shelter in Automobile Maintenance Pit

ABSTRACT

An apparatus having at least two doors near its top level is installed in an automobile maintenance pit. When the doors are in the close position, the covered space in the pit becomes a tornado shelter. Each of the doors can be opened in two opposite directions. Multiple doors and dual opening directions minimize the chances that all doors are jammed in all directions at the same time. Each of the doors can be opened and closed even when an automobile is parked directly above the pit. When all the doors are in at least one of the open positions, maintenance tasks can be by a person in the pit, beneath the automobile.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to tornado shelters, and in particular, toadding the functionality of a tornado shelter to a residentialautomobile maintenance pit which is a cavity in the ground of aresidential garage or a carport.

In-ground tornado shelters are available in the market place. Designslike U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,345 mainly consist of an enclosure with onedoor for accessing the enclosed area. Their single purpose is to providea shelter when tornado hits. In case the tornado hit, debris might fallon to the top of the door, and possibly jam the door. These designs lackthe redundancy provided by multiple doors where all doors are lesslikely to be jammed at the same time. Though U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,345 canbe installed in a residential automobile garage, its use as amaintenance pit is not intended and not suitable.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,217 adds a safety cover or door to an automotiveservice pit. It is designed for commercial automobile service facilitiesto prevent people from falling into the pit, not for a residentialtornado shelter.

The purpose of the present invention is to allow a residentialautomobile maintenance pit function as a tornado shelter by adding atleast two doors near the top level over the full length of the pit. Thisadded functionality is an incentive for customers who want to have morepractical use of their investment.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

An apparatus having at least two doors near its top level is installedin an automobile maintenance pit. Each of the doors can be opened andclosed even when an automobile is parked directly above the pit. Each ofthe doors can be opened in two opposite directions. When all the doorsare in at least one of the open positions, maintenance tasks can beperformed by a person in the pit, beneath the automobile. When the doorsare in the close position, the covered space in the pit becomes atornado shelter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a hidden line removed isometric view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hidden line removed isometric view of the rolling doorassembly with the door in close position.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the rolling door assembly with the door in closeposition.

FIG. 4 is a section view taken along section line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section view taken along section line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a hidden line removed isometric view, with doors 21, 22 and 23in the right open position and with rear top door guides 35 and fronttop door guides 36 removed.

FIG. 7 is a front end cut-away, hidden line removed isometric view ofthe present invention with all doors in close position, in an existingautomotive maintenance pit.

FIG. 8 is a front end cut-away, hidden line removed isometric view ofthe present invention with all doors in the right open position and alltop door guides removed, in an existing automotive maintenance pit.

FIG. 9 is a top view of the present invention integrated with theautomotive maintenance pit.

FIG. 10 is a section view taken along section line 10-10 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To avoid cluttering the drawings, individual slats 41 of rolling doors21, 22, and 23 are not shown in all isometric views.

Refer to FIG. 1. The apparatus of the present invention consists of aframe and three modules of rolling door assemblies. The said frameconsists of lower left brace 11, lower front brace 12, lower right brace13, lower rear brace 14, upper left brace 15, upper front brace 16,upper right brace 17, upper rear brace 18 and ladder 19. Each rollingdoor of the said rolling door assemblies can be rolled to the closeposition as illustrated by the rear rolling door 21, the left openposition as illustrated by the middle rolling door 22 and the right openposition as illustrated by the front rolling door 23. The said rollingdoor assemblies are held in place by the said frame.

Refer to FIG. 2. The rolling door assembly consists of rolling door 21in this case in the close position, rear left door guide 31, rear topdoor guide 35, rear right door guide 32, front left door guide 33, fronttop door guide 36, and front right door guide 34. Rear left door guide31 and front right door guide 34 are identical. Rear right door guide 32and front left door guide 33 are identical. Rear top door guide 35 andfront top door guide 36 are identical. Other components of the rollingdoor assembly not identified in this drawing are rollers 41, slats 42and eyebolts 43.

FIG. 3 is the top view of the rolling door assembly showing a pluralityof slats 42 of the rolling door 21 in close position. Section view alongsection line 4-4 is shown in FIG. 4. Section view along section line 5-5is shown in FIG. 5.

Refer to FIG. 4, the section view along section line 4-4 of FIG. 3, andFIG. 5, the section view along section line 5-5 of FIG. 3. The rollingdoor 21 consists of a plurality of rollers 41 and slats 42. Each slat 42interlocks with neighboring slats 42 and is supported by one each roller41 at each of its two ends. Door guides 31, 32, 34, 35, 36 and 33 inFIG. 3 have roller guide of the same C-shaped cross section. Rollers 41can travel in the C-shaped roller guide of said door guides 31, 32, 33,34, 35 and 36. Top door guides 35 and 36 have curved portion near bothends to allow the movement of rolling door 21 change direction, fromhorizontal to vertical and vice versa. Top door guides 35 and 36 haveenlarged ends to accept slip-in connection of left door guides 3land 33and right door guides 32 and 34. Rear top door guide 35 is secured inthe left end by one first eyebolt 43 to rear left door guide 31 and inthe right end by one second eyebolt 43 to rear right door guide 32.Front top door guide 36 is secured in the left end by one first eyebolt43 to front left door guide 33 and in the right end by one secondeyebolt 43 to front right door guide 34. Eyebolts 43 can be screwedthrough the wall of the C-shaped roller guide and function as locks torestrict travel of rolling door 21.

Refer to FIG. 6. Rear rolling door 21, middle rolling door 22 and frontrolling door 23 are rolled to the right open position. By first removingall eyebolts 43, rear top door guides 35 and front top door guides 36 ofeach rear rolling door assembly, middle rolling door assembly and frontrolling door assembly can be removed to allow unrestricted movement of aperson working in the automobile maintenance pit along the full lengthof the automobile maintenance pit.

Refer to FIG. 7. The apparatus of the present invention is installed inan existing rectangular shaped cavity of automobile maintenance pitsurrounded by wall 51. All doors of the apparatus are in close positionnear the top level 52.

Refer to FIG. 8. Same as in FIG. 7 except that all rolling doors are inthe right open position and that all rear top door guides 35 and fronttop door guides 36 of rear, middle and front rolling door assemblies areremoved.

Refer to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. The apparatus of the present invention canbe integrated into the walls of the automobile maintenance pit that usesconcrete as the wall material. The top view FIG. 9 shows upper braces15, 16, 17 and 18 are visible. FIG. 10 is taken from section line 10-10of FIG. 9. The apparatus is positioned in the cavity prior to pouring ofconcrete with proper form board arrangement to let concrete fill in theregion between upper right brace 17 and lower right brace 13 as well asupper left brace 15 and lower left brace 11. After concrete solidifies,the apparatus is firmly anchored in the automobile maintenance pit.

1. An apparatus for tornado shelter in automobile maintenance pitcomprising: a frame; at least two doors, covering near the full lengthof the top opening of said automobile maintenance pit, each door can beopened in two opposite directions, when all doors are open no obstacleexists near the full length of the top opening of said automobilemaintenance pit to facilitate automobile maintenance tasks.
 2. Theapparatus as described in claim 1, wherein said door can be opened inonly one direction.
 3. The apparatus as described in claim 1, whereinsaid frame is integrated into the concrete wall of the said automobilemaintenance pit.